Prince Charles Delivers Heartfelt Speech at Royal Wedding Reception

Prince Charles reportedly delivered a heartfelt and emotional speech at the royal wedding reception after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot Saturday morning.

“Charles gave a brilliant speech,” a guest at the reception, held at St. George’s Hall at Windsor Castle, told PEOPLE. “Harry was very emotional.”

The guest said Prince Charles’ speech was “very sweet” and “very heartfelt,” adding that Charles said he is “proud” of the man his son had “grown into.”

“He ended it calling him, ‘My darling old Harry, I’m so happy for you,’ which was very sweet,” the guest told PEOPLE. Charles also said he is “really happy for them both.”

Harry also delivered a speech during the reception, described as “off-the-cuff” by one attendee in a PEOPLE interview.

“It was very off-the-cuff, which was lovely,” the guest told the magazine. “He promised that all the Americans wouldn’t steal the swords and said, ‘Please, when you leave, be quiet as you don’t want to wake the neighbors,’ which was quite fun.”

“It was more than you would ever imagine it to be,” the guest said of Harry’s speech. “It did feel like we were really part of their very special occasion. It just felt about the two of them, which was great.”

The Sun further reports that Prince Charles also moved wedding reception guests to tears with an emotional speech about his son’s childhood.

Charles played an unexpected role in the wedding, walking Markle down the aisle. Her father, Thomas Markle Sr., was expected to walk his daughter down the aisle and meet Harry for the first time, but he missed the wedding after a heart attack and successful heart surgery.

It was not until the day before the wedding that Kensington Palace confirmed Charles accepted Markle’s invitation to walk with her down the aisle at St. George’s Chapel.

“He said he was very pleased to be asked [to walk Meghan down the aisle] and happy to help out,” the insider said.

“It was Meghan’s wish and she is grateful for the Prince of Wales to be doing it,” another royal source told PEOPLE.

When Charles reached the altar with his new daughter-in-law, Harry told his father, “Thank you, Pa.”

Prince Charles does not have a daughter, but this was the second time he walked a bride down the aisle. In 2016, he walked with Alexandra Knatchbull, a family friend, during her wedding to Thomas Hooper.

Prince Charles will one day become King. Harry’s older brother, Prince William, is second in line to the British throne. Harry is sixth, following William’s three children with Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Photo credit: Facebook/ The Royal Family